Magic User's Club

Director
Junichi Sato
Production
Triangle Staff, Madhouse, Bandai, WOWOW
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
12 episodes
Year
1996

Magic User's Club

By Frank Orville
20th May 04

Very rarely does any show, anime or otherwise, grab hold of me the way Magic User's Club has. It is a delightfully charming story about growing up and gaining self-confidence, set against the truly hilarious backdrop of a high school occult sorcery club.

Occult sorcery might not sound that light-hearted, but I promise that Magic User's Club does not have an ounce of darkness in it. This is not to say that the show is never serious. It often is, because coming of age can be a very serious topic. But ultimately, the underlying message is very uplifting: you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to as long as you believe in yourself.

The primary character is a second-year high school girl named Sae Sawanoguchi, who is caring, open, and quite strong. Her problem is that she has no confidence in her own strength, seeing herself as a klutz and a failure. She is a member of the Magic User's Club mainly because she has a huge crush on the club president, Takeo Takakura, a nerdy third-year boy who is very smart and good with magic, and who secretly returns Sae's feelings but does not have the confidence to tell her.

The small club has only three other members. Ayanojou Aburatsubo is the vice president and an open homosexual who also has a crush on Takeo. Sae's childhood friend Nanaka Nakatomi wants to quit the club but feels obligated to stay with Sae. Akane Aikawa is a knockout babe who constantly skips club meetings to go on dates.

Their main opposition is the manga club, a group of shameless snobs. They are lead by the snob queen herself, Mizuha Miyama, who has a long history of bullying Takeo which goes all the way back to when they were both small kids. Mizuha takes particular delight in her constant suggestions that the magic club should be shut down.

The madcap hijinks of the magic club are often laugh-out-loud funny, and just as often poignant almost to the point of being sad. Though Magic User's Club is an over-the-top comedy by any definition, the characters are all too human and very believable. Often, the show effortlessly transitions between hilarity and seriousness many times over just a few minutes. These transitions are never jarring, nor do they require suspending disbelief.

Magic User's Club starts with a 6 episode OVA which details the magic club's campaign to fight off an invasion force of alien robots (I kid you not), which transitions smoothly into a 13 episode TV series. All together, the 19 episodes make up a continuous story, which is very rare. Usually, an OVA and TV series are not two parts of the same story, even if they are within the same continuity.

The artwork is slightly better in the OVA than the TV show, but the difference, while noticeable, is very subtle. The art of the TV show really is quite high quality by TV standards. The OVA artwork is quite nice as well, though at times it slips into computer animation that looks rather artificial and badly out of place.

The soundtrack is mostly classical music rather than the usual j-pop songs most anime use. It makes for a nice change and it sets the mood well, though it is never anything particularly exceptional.

All in all, Magic User's Club is a rare gem. It is a cute and uplifting story about growing up that gets its message across while still being fun to watch. I recommend this anime to everybody, provided you can deal with relentless cuteness.

9/10

-- Frank Orville 20th May 04

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